I was sinking in muddy, sticky water. My senses gradually weakened and they eventually disappeared.
Soon, I sank further below the sea of memories and my sight began to not work as well.
My vision went dark.
A barrage of feelings assaulted me, both negative and positive ones. In the end, negative ones suppressed the positive ones in no time.
The sobs of a little girl who wanted to get loved, the desperate pleas of a fresh teenager who wanted the pain to stop, the indifference of a young woman who now didn't even care about her body, and lastly pure desire to kill even if it was going to cost her soul.
Those weren't good memories a little girl should have faced but that wasn't something I could help. While I was witnessing these memories, many girls were suffering the same fate or even worse.
I was no god or all-powerful being. Saving and making everyone happy was not possible.
That is why, I just continued to delve into the sea of memories until I found clear memories.
The mind of intelligent species was fascinating to observe. All of them were unique, which made it enjoyable to skim through.
However, there were a few details that were usually the same in all minds.
The memories that were important to the person in question were usually crystal clear while unimportant ones were blurry.
I was after the important, crystal-clear ones.
And with that, I entered one of the clear memories.
*****
A beautiful little girl was crouching in the corner of her dark room, bathing in the crimson rays of the moon. Her knees were pulled over to her chest and she was hunched forward. Tears were falling from her ice-blue eyes as she continued to gaze at the moon, which was especially redder than any other day.
"Why?" The girl muttered between her sobs. "Why don't they love me? Why they are hurting me? Why are they doing this?"
The girl's words were akin to a cry for help but no one helped her. She quietly endured while carefully massaging her reddened, bruised calves.
"Oww..."
*****
The memory changed to another one and the scene changed to a sunny day in a lovely garden of red roses.
In the middle of the garden was the formerly little girl who was now slightly taller and more beautiful than in previous memory.
In front of the girl stood a boy who was a few years older than the girl with greenish-red hair and green eyes that were looking down on her with visible, unhidden disgust.
The boy was extending a rose to the girl with a wide grin on his chubby face. His face was blurry.
The girl's face was riddled with fear and worry but nevertheless, she still took the rose with her trembling hands.
The rose in her hand was beautiful and lovely, yet, it was going to wither in a few days now that it was away from the dirt. Its end was just a matter of time.
'It is just like me.' The girl inwardly muttered as she momentarily forgot her worries with the beauty of the rose.
"Did you like it?"
"..."
"I asked, did YOU like it?"
"...YES!?" The girl nodded desperately while showing the rose.
"That is good." The boy muttered with a smile and covered the girl's hand that was holding the rose with his hands.
Not minding the momentarily flinch of the girl, the boy gave strength to his hands.
"If you like it, shouldn't you hold it tight?" The boy whispered as droplets of blood began to drip from the girl's hand.
"Agh..."
The rose's thorns pierced her palm and blood flowed freely. The pain was too much.
"Right?"
"Please..."
"Right?"
"...stop..."
"Right?"
"..."
"Right?" The boy asked for the fourth time as the thorns of the rose began to grow longer and sharper.
"Yes!" The girl replied with a scream.
The boy smiled widely and silently released his grip.
"Good." He nodded. "Now, hold your gift tight and return to your room. Don't come out again."
"Yes..."
The girl obediently turned her back and left. Even when she returned to her room and smeared her blood everywhere, she didn't drop the rose in her hand.
Her delicate hand was in pain, and because of that she couldn't sleep for days, yet, she didn't let the rose go.
After two days, the rose strangely turned to black and became ashes.
When the girl opened her eyes that morning, they were murkier.
*******
Memory after memory, the girl grew up to her current self with occasional tormenting. She now didn't care about the pain or scars, just acted like she was still the same pitiful girl. Behind their back, she trained in all kinds of questionable magic for revenge.
And now, she was looking into a paper with a troubled look. On the paper were nine different names with the same surname "Rose".
"Twins will kill each other." She muttered with a passive tone as she crossed two of the names.
Then she slowly crossed the names one by one.
"This one will starve himself to death."
"She will strangle herself."
"I will personally squeeze to death this one with dull thorns."
"This one will be thrown into the bandit's den without clothes."
"This one will be kept in a cell for ten years in bindings."
"This one will be turned into a sweaty, hairy man."
As the girl coldly crossed the names, her eyes were on the last one.
"And this one... I can't kill him myself...yet."
The girl was troubled. Killing eight of the targets wasn't easy but it wasn't hard either. She just needed some effort and it would be done.
However, with her current strength, killing the last target was not possible. Even if she trained for ten years, there was no guarantee that she would have the strength to kill the last target — her father.
If she were to kill the other targets and not touch her father, she would one way or another get caught and die.
If she were to not touch her targets, there was a big chance that they would die before she killed them. She didn't want that.
She didn't have a choice other than external help. Maybe hiring an assassin, buying poison, or escaping from the house and killing the targets later in the shadows.
However, as a sheltered girl who didn't leave the house, she didn't have any acquaintances that would help her.
There was no hope.
—at least she thought so.
"There is still hope. I can help you." A gender-neutral voice filled with malice whispered from behind.
The girl didn't tremble or show a sign of surprise. She calmly turned to her shadow.
"What can you do with your measly strength? You are just a blue devil, not a purple or even even violet." The girl snorted at the blue-skinned devil with bat wings.
The devil's muscular upper body revealed itself just above the shadow while the rest of his body was not in sight. On his face was an evil grin, one that the girl hated to the core.
"Get out, pest. I won't give my soul to a low-rank devil. You can't even touch father's hair, let alone kill him." The girl smirked back as she threw her long black hair to the back.
The devil's smile didn't falter at the obvious mockery. He just continued to smile before parting his lips and showing his long and sharp canine teeth.
"You are right. I can't kill him." The devil accepted the truth as his forked tongue licked his lips. "However, I can weaken him considerably, but! Not without a cost."
The girl shook her head. "I don't care. How will I even kill him if I give my soul to you and you are just going to weaken him?"
"No. I don't want your soul but you still need to make some sacrifices. There are no free things in this world, right?"
"Then, what do you want?" The girl asked with caution. The words of the devil were too sweet and enchanting.
"15 years. I will take 15 years' worth of your lifespan and use 10 years of it for fuel for the curse I am going to cast on your daddy!" The devil clamored as his wings fluttered. "It is cheap, right? You won't able to find this cheapness in any devil other than me, dear Isabella. I consider us as friends, that is why I'm giving this price to you."
"..."
"..."
The girl was reluctant to strike a deal with a devil as she knew what devils were like. Yet, there was no choice. Signing a contract was still not that bad. If the contract clauses were explained very clearly, the devil wouldn't have a choice other than doing the part of their contract.
"Alright." Isabella nodded before adding, "I am the one writing the contract."
The evil grin on the devil's face didn't vanish even after they signed the contract, but the grin widened enough to reach his sharp ears.